Archea

Dark Medieval Fantasy

Humans are newcomers to Archea, having sailed here from the continent of Caledon. In Caledon, Humans are the only sentient race. When the Humans arrived at Archea, they found the other races of Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Halflings, and Orcs. Many of the races resisted the newcomers, as the Humans were greedy and began to claim all the land that they could see as their own.

The Elves are fiercely protective of their forest homes. They despise the Humans and their stone fortresses. They see the Humans as a blight upon nature and defend the forest from what they perceive to be an encroachment upon nature. Humans and Elves have settled on an uneasy truce: the Elves do not raid Human towns, and the Humans do not tread in the forest.

The Dwarves spend most of their time holed up in their subterranean homes deep in the mountains. They did not care much about the Humans until they began to set up mining operations and strip the mountains of all their valuable minerals. The Dwarves raised arms against the Humans, eventually leading to the retreat of the Dwarves deep into the mountains. Now the Humans and the Dwarves simply avoid contact with each other. Some Dwarves were captured during the war, and they became slaves. Many of them were used to build the castles standing today.

The Gnomes are mostly wanderers and vagabonds. But when the Humans came, they wished to control all of Archea, something that the Gnomes were ideologically against. This eventually led to the War for Archea, in which the Gnomes allied with the Dwarves to resist Human colonization. The Gnomes lost the most in the war, and the survivors were forced to retreat to the protection of the Elves or the Dwarves. Many of the Gnomes captured during the war became enslaved to the Humans. Most of these enslaved Gnomes were servers and cleaners, but it is not uncommon to see Gnomes participating in field work as well.

The Halflings are kind and generous, and picked up the Human language very quickly. Halflings were plains hunters, and had to compete regularly with Orcs for food and resources. When the Humans arrived, the Halflings quickly worked their way into Human society and found protection behind the shield of their tall allies.

Orcs hate and fear the Humans, and regularly raid Human towns. Orcs often raped Human women during these raids, and the bastard children, called Half-Orcs, try to find a place in Human society.

There was great tension between the Humans and the rest of the native races. The Humans came to Archea in the hopes of colonizing the island and taking its land and resources as their own. Initially the Gnomes attempted diplomacy in the hopes that they could convince the Humans that they did not need to claim all of Archea. The Humans seemed open to negotiation at first, but when more boats arrived, it became harder and harder to convince the Humans to slow down their colonization. Then the Church came. The Church believed that Humans had divine right to all of Archea. With that, any hope for diplomacy was dissolved. A bloody war followed. The Gnomes fought the Humans, attempting to ward them off with potent magic, but the Humans had magic of their own. When the Humans began to set up mining operations in the mountains, the Dwarves raised arms against them and joined the fight. Eventually, the Humans claimed most of the plains land as their own, merging Halflings into their society and booting out the Gnomes. The Gnomes retreated to other communities, finding homes with the Elves and the Dwarves. Many Gnomes and Dwarves were enslaved during the war, and so many live in servitude to the Humans.

78 years after the War for Archea, an evil plague is sweeping the nation, killing people by the hundreds and corrupting the land. The Church, whom the Humans depend on for health and salvation, is unable to cure it. Their impotence to cure the plague has caused rising tension between the Human population and the Church.